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viewtopic.php?p=2348381#p2348381
I'd you bought your Pi thinking it was factory fresh with a manufacturer's warranty, you may want to consider returning it.
Last week I replied to another troubleshooting thread where it looked possible to me that the root cause was also field-upgraded RAM. That thread is now missing.
Given the recent increases in the price of RAM, it's possible the business of selling Pi 5 computers that have had their RAM upgraded by a third party will become unprofitable. At present it is difficult for a forum member such as myself to ascertain the size of the operation that was performing the upgrades. For transparency I would encourage the forum moderator to help discover the root cause of failure cases such as described in this thread and the previous one.
Posting a high resolution image of the RAM and any rework on the present board might help.
From what I can tell, these are the symptoms of a Pi 5 that was field upgraded to 8GB by a third party. More information is atHello everyone,
I’m reporting an ongoing issue with a **Raspberry Pi 5 (8 GB)** that I’ve been unable to fully recover. Below is a detailed timeline, including **LED blink codes** observed with different EEPROM recovery versions.
---
### Hardware
* Raspberry Pi 5 – 8 GB
* Official power supply
* microSD (tested multiple cards, known good)
* Official Active Cooler (installed later)
---
### Initial problem
After purchasing the board, I installed the **latest Raspberry Pi OS** using **Raspberry Pi Imager**. The board **did not boot and produced no video output**.
The board reported:
* **SDRAM failure**
---
### Bootloader investigation
After researching, I found multiple reports stating that **bootloader recovery versions newer than 2024-09-10** caused similar issues on Raspberry Pi 5 boards.
I then tested multiple EEPROM recovery images:
#### Newer EEPROM recovery versions
* **8 fast LED blinks**
* No video output
#### Older EEPROM recovery versions (pre-2024-09-10)
* Board boots correctly
* Recalbox boots successfully (installed via Raspberry Pi Imager)
* Raspberry Pi OS only works if using an **older OS image**
---
### Cooling situation
At this stage:
* The board was running with **passive heatsinks only**
* No instability during operation
---
### Active Cooler installation and regression
Before installing the **official Active Cooler**, I noticed that the **shutdown/reboot icons were missing** in Raspberry Pi OS, so I performed a **forced shutdown**.
After installing the Active Cooler and powering on:
* No video output
* Board fails to boot again
---
### Current LED behavior
After attempting to recover again using EEPROM recovery:
* With **some recovery versions**:
* **8 fast LED blinks**
* With **other recovery versions**:
* **4 long blinks followed by 3 short blinks**
In all cases:
* No video output
* System does not boot
---
### Current status
Actions already taken:
* Reinstalled EEPROM recovery multiple times
* Tested multiple microSD cards
* Verified power supply
* Removed Active Cooler and tested again
* Tested HDMI cables and both HDMI ports
None of the above restored functionality.
---
### Questions
At this point, I’m unsure whether:
* The EEPROM has entered an unrecoverable state
* The forced shutdown corrupted something critical
* The Active Cooler installation triggered or exposed a hardware fault
* This is a known bootloader regression affecting some Raspberry Pi 5 boards
Any advice, confirmation of similar cases, or recommended next steps would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you very much for your time and support.
Best regards,
Juanse
viewtopic.php?p=2348381#p2348381
I'd you bought your Pi thinking it was factory fresh with a manufacturer's warranty, you may want to consider returning it.
Last week I replied to another troubleshooting thread where it looked possible to me that the root cause was also field-upgraded RAM. That thread is now missing.
Given the recent increases in the price of RAM, it's possible the business of selling Pi 5 computers that have had their RAM upgraded by a third party will become unprofitable. At present it is difficult for a forum member such as myself to ascertain the size of the operation that was performing the upgrades. For transparency I would encourage the forum moderator to help discover the root cause of failure cases such as described in this thread and the previous one.
Posting a high resolution image of the RAM and any rework on the present board might help.
Statistics: Posted by ejolson — Sun Dec 21, 2025 4:26 pm